In the Bible, in the book of
Judges, there is a passage that describes the mentality of the era. It is found
in chapter 21 verse 25. It states: "In those days there was no king in
Israel, and everyone did what was right in his own eyes." I know that
accurately describes the era we live in now, but somehow it helps to know that the
morality of man hasn't really changed much in the last several thousand years.
In Judges 5:6, Deborah, the 4th judge states “In the days of Shamgar son of
Anath,in the days of Jael, the highways were abandoned; travelers took to
winding paths." Shamgar was the 3rd judge of Israel. His name is actually
of Canaanite descent through Anath, the Canaanite warrior Goddess. The irony
here is the Canaanites are enemies of Israel. And yet he is only mentioned twice
in the whole Bible. Saying the highways were abandoned is most likely to mean
that the main roads were not safe. I can only imagine that there must be groups
of people that were not up to any good gathered on the streets terrorizing the
citizens.
The other time Shamgar is mentioned is in Judges 3:31,
which states: After Ehud came Shamgar son of
Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too saved
Israel. Having only these two verses, we
have to do a little deducting and even some assuming. If its possible that the
groups of people standing around terrorizing the citizens of Israel were
actually Philistines, we can them imagine Shamgar sneaking up on them with his
oxgoad. Wait a minute. What's an oxgoad? It is a farming tool that is a long
stick with a sharp point on one end and a flat chisel on the other. Shamgar did
not let the facts of his current situation keep him from excelling. He took
what he had access to and did what he could to make a difference, to do what
was right.
Tony Evans wrote a book called Kingdom Man, and in chapters 3 & 4 of his book he challenges his readers to pursue greatness. He says, "Not only does God want you to be great in His kingdom, He has destined you for it." He pointed us towards a few verses to back up this strong statement. In 1 Thes 4:1 Paul writes to those at Thessalonica and encourages them to be obedient so they might abound even more, or so they might excel even more. And to the Corinthians, he urged them to seek greatness in all they did since all they did according to 1 Cor 10:31 was to be done to glorify God.
John 14:12 I tell you the truth,
anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing, and they will do
even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
We have a promise from God the Father that if
we would just believe in Him, that we can do even greater things than Jesus
did, while He was on this earth. It does not say we can be greater than Him,
but our works can be greater than His works. And if you believe in Him, then
you know the kind of works He did, to the glory of God his Father. That is the
call to greatness. God takes normal men and women and uses them to do amazing
things to further His kingdom. He took some fishermen, a tax collector, and a
murderer to build His Church that has spread to every continent and it is still
continuing to find every tribe of people in this world.
I think, sometimes, people get confused. Tony
Evans states that Satan has used culture and society to paint complacency as a
virtue and mediocrity as a goal. He twists the scriptures to help out his
cause. In the beatitudes, we are encouraged to be meek and humble and a servant
of all, but Satan tries to make us believe that meekness and humility cannot
get along with greatness and success. But authentic greatness includes the true
definition of all those characteristics. To be meek is to submit yourself to
kingdom rule.
You can also listen to the full sermon I
preached at Living Hope Community Church in Conneautville here. www.livinghopecommunity.com
